Knife guard for corn headers



Sept. 29, 1925. 1,555,368

W. F. HAMILTON KNIFE GUARD FOR CORN HEADERS Filed Dec. 11, 1923 a iINVENTOR. /l ////a/72 flaw/s fiW/fim BY 772x254 M 77% A TTORNEYS.

Patented Sept. 29, 1925 UNITED STATES WILLIAM FRANCIS HAMILTON, OFVENTURA, CALIFORNIA.

KNIFE GUARD FOR CORN HEADERS.

Application filed December 11, 1923. Serial No. 679,933.

T 0 all whom it may conoern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM FRANoIs HAMILTON, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and resident of Ventura, in the county of Ventura and State ofCalifornia, have invented new and useful Improvements in a Knife Guardfor Corn Headers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a guard for reciprocating sickles used incutting kafir corn and like plants, wherein it is desirable to carry thecut heads back over the cutting knife.

In machines of this character, the heads and stalks are relativelylarge, and, in order to avoid jamming of the stalks in the spacesbetween the fingers of the guards, a way open at the rear for thepassage of stalks between the fingers is provided. The type of machinfor which the guard shown herein is designed, employs a comb or gratingcomprising horizontal relatively long forwardly extending bars orfingers to support heads of corn folded or bent upon the grating. Thesebars are secured to and act as extensions of the guard fingers. Theprimary object of this invention is to provide a guard to which agrating bar may be secured in a manner such as to serve the requirementsabove mentioned. It is a further object of this invention to provide asimple, strong, easily assembled structure, which is efficient andeconomical.

These objects together with other objects and correspondingaccomplishments are obtained by means of the embodiment of my inventionillustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which the figure shows aperspective view of a knife guard in full lines, a grating bar securedthereto shown in dotted lines, and an angle bar of the machine frame, towhich the guard may' be connected.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, an angle bar of the frame isindicated by 1. Secured thereto is a knife guard indicated generally by2. In the complete machine there are a series of guards mounted alongside of one another upon the angle bar, so that when completelyassembled there are a group of forwardly extending parallel fingers.Secured to the guard at its nose is a grating bar 3.

Referring to the details of structure of the guard, it comprises a basehaving a heel 4 to abut the horizontal leg of the angle bar and a toe 5to abut the vertical leg of the angle bar. The base is placed in theinner angle of the angle bar and may be secured thereto by bolts 6 and 7extending through registering openings of the angle bar and base. At theforward end of the base is a shoulder 8 for abutting the forward edge ofthe angle. Extending forwardly from the base is the body of the guardindicated by 9 having a way 10 to receive the knife blade. This way isoffset from the base so as to be raised. Offset from the way so as to bedisposed above it and at the front of the guard is a nose 11. This nosehas a horizontal flat upper surface with bolt holes therein.

Placed upon the nose of the guard and secured thereto by bolts 12 and 13is the grating bar 3. It will be noted that the bar 3 extends backwardlyover the knife way. The grating bars are spaced apart when the machineis assembled to provide ways open at both front and rear, so that as astalk is carried toward the knife, the head rests upon the grating, andafter the stalk has been out, there is no interference to movement alongthe grating to the rear thereof, the way being clear.

hat I claim is:

1. A knife guard for sickles comprising a base for securing the guard tothe frame of a machine having a heel with an abutting ridge transversethereof and a toe at right angles .to said heel, a forward extensionhaving a knife way stepped above the face of said heel, a nose at theforward end of said extension stepped above said knife way and affordingmeans of attachment for a forwardly projecting bar elevated above theknife way.

2. A knife guard for sickles comprising a base for securing the guard tothe frame of a machine comprising a heel with an abutting ridgetransverse thereof and a toe at right angles to said heel, a forwardextension having a knife way, a nose at the forward end of saidextension and affording means of attachment for a bar, and a forwardlyprojecting bar attached to said nose extending rearwardly above andbeyond the knife way and spaced from said heel.

In witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my namethis 19th day of January, 1923.

WVILLIAM FRANCIS HAMILTON.

